Ruthless
by SaccharineGray
Summary: He'd trained his body to become the perfect machine for this kind of job, moving without thought and well-tuned. How did somebody as emotional as her manage to carry out assassinations? For the love of god, she had pink hair.


**Summary: He'd trained his body to become the perfect machine for this kind of job, moving without thought and well-tuned. His mind was ruthless. How did somebody as emotional as her manage to carry out assassinations? For the love of god, she had pink hair. That was a bit of a no-no for stealth.**

* * *

><p>They were running, sprinting like the wind, hoping to whatever gods there were that the bullets wouldn't hit them. It was a million to one chance with the number of guards chasing them, but they'd gotten lucky before. That was probably why Team Seven was still alive. Bullets seared the paint off the wall they kept close to, hoping the luck would hold out just until they reached the river where Kakashi was waiting in the boat. After that they would be home free, but that was <em>then<em>.

Sakura would have screamed, but the wind knocked the air out of her lungs. Lactic acid coiled in her muscles as they starved for the oxygen her lungs couldn't provide fast enough, and her nerves screamed with the knowledge that she'd been at a full-out sprint for two minutes. While Team Seven was the peak of fitness, this was difficult after a night of hanging on ceilings, crouching with stiff knees, and slowing her breathing rate enough to not be noticed. The stealth mission had all gone well until the part where it turned out to be an ambush. Sakura was going to _kill _Tsunade for assigning them this damn mission.

They rounded a corner, Sasuke and Naruto a bit ahead as Sakura's limbs started disobeying her and slowing down, just as the river came into view. The cool moon's reflection was huge in the still river. Too still. No ripples from a motorboat. _Kakashi wasn't there. _

"Goddamn it!" Naruto yelled, his golden hair dull in the night. "Why is he _always _late?"

Bangs sounded as the guards rounded the corner not far behind and continued to shoot. Sweat poured down Sakura's face as she fought to keep running, but she felt herself weakening. Maintaining the sprint was just too taxing. The river was 600 meters away, and the sound of a motorboat was barely audible over the roaring wind and the pounding of blood in Sakura's ears. Sasuke and Naruto got steadily farther and Sakura knew the guards were getting closer. Her analyzing eyes scanned the area, noting only gas tanks to the side. Big gas tanks. She was considering using them for some purpose until a bullet hit the ground right in front of her and, in her attempt to avoid it, Sakura did the worst thing she could have possibly done: she tripped.

Naruto and Sasuke were still running. They hadn't noticed. Good…maybe they'd escape. Sakura would be the decoy. With trembling hands, Sakura reached for her holster and pulled out her gun, pulling back the hammer and rolling to face the oncoming guards, trying to hold her breath. They were approaching so quickly, but they weren't zig-zagging like any trained person should under fire. Sakura bit her lip and took down one, two, before a third lifted his gun at her. She had the advantage. He was running, unsteady, while she was on fairly stable ground. Sakura rolled the moment before she heard the bang. Dirt stuck to her skin because of the sweat and her ankle throbbed as she pulled herself into crouch then a standing position, until her leg buckled unexpectedly. There were at least five more guards, all aiming at her now. One of them was going to hit her—there was no question about it. She lifted her gun and tried to shoot, but of course she was out of bullets.

Then there was a scream of "Sakura, _down_!" and her body obeyed before her mind could process it, her face planting into the dust. Before she hit the ground she saw red blossoming on the guards' white uniforms, like flowers in spring, and seven successive bangs filled the air before all was silent.

Sakura lifted her head, almost thinking the firefight was still going on and she'd just gone deaf. As she pulled herself up, ignoring her body's protests, she saw the bodies of six guards strewn across the ground. She noted that they had all been shot exactly through the forehead or heart. That kind of precision was Sasuke's work, without a doubt. She turned her head toward the boys, expecting to find them smug.

Naruto was on the ground, deathly pale, holding his leg, while Sasuke was breathing hard, still holding both his and Naruto's guns. He had shot _with one hand_. But that wasn't important. Cursing, Sakura dragged herself over to Naruto, aware that her obviously sprained ankle was going to make things annoying for them. She slid her tiny pouch out from her belt and leaned over the blond, who obviously had been shot in the leg.

"Bastards can't aim," he spat through gritted teeth.

"Naruto, you need to move your hand," Sakura said tersely, trying to keep calm. "I need to get a look at the wound." She pried Naruto's hands off, examining the wound bleeding profusely. She applied pressure as best she could, using a few of the pressure points she knew to try to slow the blood flow. She grabbed the small roll of bandages she had and tightly wrapped it around the wound.

Naruto winced. "Oww, Sakura, that hurts."

"You've been shot dozens of times. One would think you'd stop whining!" Sakura murmured, exasperated.

Her head whipped around as she heard voices rounding the corner. There was a single guard, and Sasuke had his back to him. But the guard wasn't pointing his gun at Sasuke, he was…

"RUN!" Sakura screamed, pulling Naruto up and unceremoniously slinging him across her shoulder and limp-running toward the river.

Sasuke started, "Sakura, what are you—"

That was before the guard blew the gas tank, unbalancing the gas under pressure, and a roaring wall of fire advanced on them.

In a split second, Sasuke had grabbed Naruto off her shoulders and Sakura ran, pure adrenaline overcoming the sprain in her ankle. Sakura's analyzing brain told her that the shockwave was advancing at 340 meters per second, the speed of sound, and that fire would be following soon after if there was anything left of them, and that there was no freaking way they should be able to make it into the river when the explosion started 500 meters away.

They ran toward the river and it seemed like slow motion as it got unbearably hot behind them and the explosion advanced. Sakura felt flames licking at her back just as they got to the dock, and Sakura knew that the heat wave preceded the fire. Without a second thought, they dived into the river just as the blaze exploded across the water above them like a stampede of glowing horses.

It was silent underwater, and the moon was just bright enough that Sakura could see Sasuke letting Naruto, whose arm strength was superior to theirs, tread on his own. The bandage came off and Naruto's blood clouded the water. Sakura's oxygen-starved lungs demanded air, and she knew that in half a minute her body would inhale with or without her permission and the process of drowning would begin. But the fire died out over the water and she swam up to the surface, peeking her head out and breathing deep—

She choked and sputtered, realizing she had just breathed in much more smoke than was humanly healthy. She panicked. Visibility was almost zero and she couldn't tread forever, and were where Naruto and Sasuke?

Then a lifesaver hit her in the head and she reflexively grabbed on as she was pulled toward a boat. Her arms hit a ladder and she pulled herself up onto the deck, coughing and spluttering. She looked around, disoriented. Kakashi gave her a small wave, smiling that annoying one-eyed smile. Ugh.

Naruto and Sasuke were pulled on board next. Sakura pulled Naruto up, who collapsed on deck, bleeding and coughing out "You're late!". Sakura grabbed the first-aid kit and started tending to his injuries, while Sasuke and Kakashi started arguing about the next viable option.

"First, we get out of the smoke," they agreed. Kakashi went to the wheel and started steering them out of the extremely unhealthy air.

Sasuke came and watched as she worked on Naruto's leg. "How's your ankle?" he asked.

Sakura didn't look up. "It will be fine."

Sasuke gently pushed her back to pick up the ankle. "Hey!" Sakura protested, trying to get back to the stitches she was about to administer.

Gesturing at her ankle, Sasuke pointed out, "It's swollen to twice the other's size. And the veins are sticking out. And it's red. I might not be a medical expert, but that seems pretty bad to me."

Sakura blew hair out of her eyes. "While I think it's very sweet that you care, I've sprained ankles before."

"Shut up," Sasuke said simply as he grabbed a bandage from the bin and started tightly wrapping it around Sakura's ankle. She cried out in pain before biting her tongue to stop any more undignified noises. Sasuke was…was he _smirking? _Sakura growled in discontent, but stopped as the medical alcohol he drenched the bandage in started evaporating, making her inflamed ankle feel oh-so-cold. The growl changed to a blissful sigh and Sasuke's smirk widened.

Sakura smiled gratefully at Sasuke. "Okay, you've made your point. Can I get Naruto's stitches now?"

"Sure," Sasuke said nonchalantly like he hadn't done anything at all, then stood. There was a faint _pop_ from somewhere.

And then he dropped to the ground, and Sakura suddenly realized there was blood splattered on her face. Sasuke's blood. Sakura screamed, but Naruto sat up and clamped a hand over her mouth.

"They're after us!" he hissed to Kakashi. "We can't make any sound. That's how they must have gotten us."

Sasuke was on the ground, clutching his shoulder. It was just a scrape, though—the bullet had simply grazed him. Obviously, it had been a lucky shot—whoever was shooting at them was shooting based on sound.

Naruto dragged himself up, grabbed an apple from a bag, and chucked it into the water several meters away. Sure enough, a shot echoed through the smoke around that area.

"So what now?" Sakura whispered. "We can't move?"

"No," Kakashi corrected. "We can't use the noisy motorboat. But, conveniently, we happen to have two canoes with us. Sasuke and Sakura will take one before. I'll travel with Naruto since he has the worse injury. We'll set out a few minutes later. Listen carefully: we'll travel downstream and meet at the clearing in which we camped on the way here. It's about an hour. Be careful." He grabbed an assortment of guns and handed them to them.

Sakura grabbed one of the canoes, two paddles, and lowered it into the water. Sasuke climbed in gracefully despite the wound on his shoulder and picked up the paddle. Sakura sat in the front, choosing to paddle on the side that would be Sasuke's weaker side due to his shoulder. They started moving silently, the only sound the water dripping off their oars.

They made it to the rendezvous point, where their tents were still set up from the day before, when this whole mess had started.

It was too risky to make a fire, so they sat in silence around an empty fireplace while eating cold canned corn.

After a while, Sakura asked tentatively, "Do you think Kakashi and Naruto will be all right?"

Sasuke snorted. "Naruto's not the best at being quiet. He probably got them killed by trying to taunt the sniper."

"Don't even joke about that," Sakura shivered. She wrapped her hands around herself—it was a bit cold now that they weren't being chased by a raging fire. "That was a terrible mission. I thought…I thought they'd gotten you at one point." Sasuke didn't say anything, so she continued. "I wasn't that scared when they were about to kill me, but when I saw Naruto rolling on the ground I thought—I thought—" Tears started welling up in her eyes. "We've been through so many missions, lost a few comrades, but I still can't stand the thought of losing you! Either of you!"

She looked pleadingly at Sasuke, who seemed to realize she needed him to say something. He sighed. "After a while, you just have to detach yourself. Just don't think about anything. Just shoot."

"Don't you care for your comrades?" Sakura asked sadly.

"I've lost enough people already," Sasuke shrugged. "The key is to stop yourself from becoming close to anyone. Then it won't hurt when they're gone." Sakura knew Sasuke knew enough of loss—his whole family had been murdered when he was little, and the murderer given Sasuke the gun and a chance to save at least his parents if he could just hit a bullseye. Sasuke couldn't, and the murderer shot his parents on the spot. Since then, Sasuke made it a goal to never miss.

"Never becoming close to anyone is a rotten way to live life," Sakura retorted. "And…it's not a choice. When you form a friendship…or fall in love…it's not simple."

"I disagree," Sasuke said simply.

They stayed silent for another hour before Sasuke suggested, "You look like you need some sleep. How about I take the first watch?"

"You know I can't sleep when I'm this nervous," Sakura admonished. "You go ahead and get some rest. Besides, you got nicked in the shoulder. Do you need me to take a look at it?"

"It's fine," Sasuke said as he crawled into the tent.

Sakura sat in the moonlight and watched the stars move across the night sky, counting them, doing anything to keep her mind off the mental image of Naruto and Kakashi's corpses floating to the bottom of the smoky river, bullet holes neatly placed in their foreheads.

* * *

><p>Sasuke woke up in the middle of the night to take the watch from Sakura, but when he got outside she was already fast asleep. He shook his head with a small smile. Stupid girl was tired after all, huh? Wincing at his shoulder, he picked her up and carried her into the tent to sleep. Even after that exhausting sprint, he didn't need much sleep. The rest and food had already revitalized him. His gaze lingered on her limp, vulnerable form for a while. He'd trained his body to become the perfect machine for this kind of job, moving without thought and well-tuned. His mind was ruthless. How did somebody as emotional as her manage to carry out assassinations? For the love of god, she had pink hair. That was a bit of a no-no for stealth.<p>

And yet, she was obviously one of the top women in the force. She was, after all, a part of Team Seven. Sasuke had to admit that Team Seven was fairly well put-together. There was Naruto, the dimwit who had brute strength; himself, who had intelligence and precision; and Sakura, who had people skills and was good at healing. Finally, there was Kakashi, who, as much as he didn't want to admit it, was the one who saved their asses.

Losing one of them would probably throw the dynamics of the team off-balance.

Sasuke pretended it was that—the success of missions—that he would miss, and not them. Not the times when they dragged him out for ice cream. Not the times when they had food fights and canoe wars and complained about the quality of the food. Not Sakura's smile. No, Sasuke wouldn't miss any of that. It was just the success of missions that would be compromised with the loss of a member. That was all.

Sasuke wondered who he was kidding.

While his body may have been a machine, his mind still wouldn't obey him enough to stop him from lately noticing the gentle curve of Sakura's cheeks, the vividness of her eyes, and her determined expression as she worked hard to heal Naruto. He wouldn't stop watching Sakura's pen as she tapped it against her lips while filling out paperwork. He wasn't sure what this fascination was, exactly. Perhaps she just warranted more attention because she was becoming a more skilled fighter.

Sasuke paced over to where they'd parked the canoe, dipping his hand into the water and washing his face for clarity. When he cleared his vision, he saw a bottle caught on the rocks. Curious, he leaned over the shore to grab it. It was a sake bottle, the kind Kakashi usually drank, and there appeared to be a message inside. Sasuke raised an eyebrow, unscrewing the cork and taking out the paper. Reading it, his lip curled. He stalked over to the tent, intending to wake Sakura.

When he got there, though, he wasn't sure how to go about it. Should he just tap her on the shoulder? What if she tried to shoot him out of reflex? He settled for calling her name. "Sakura," he said softly. Sakura shifted in her sleep, and Sasuke must have imagined the corners of her mouth twitching into a peaceful smile. There was no response. "Sakura," he repeated, a bit louder. When there was still no response, he huffed and shook her shoulder. Sure enough, Sakura lashed out, but Sasuke managed to grab her fist. After she calmed down, she looked at him blearily, questioning. "Sorry to wake you up, but I just got a message from Kakashi and Naruto." He held up the slip of paper. "Somehow they managed to get themselves captured."

Sleepily, Sakura slurred, "I thought they were trying to kill us."

"They probably want to lure us so they can kill us all at once," Sasuke said gloomily. "And it's time to walk into their trap. Come on—paddling upstream is going to be extremely annoying, so we're going to walk. Grab the guns and some supplies. This mission is going to be a lot longer than we expected.

They walked through the morning with the canoe on their shoulders and supplies and paddles hanging on their backs. Sakura's ankle throbbed, but she said nothing. About the ankle, anyway. She talked the whole way up, nervous and tired. "This doesn't make any sense. Why did they get captured instead of killed? Are they okay? What if they've been injected with some poison? What if they've been killed since the note was sent? What if it's all an ambush? What if…" she continued with her what-ifs for a while. Sasuke continued to ignore her. He was the back, carrying the brunt of the canoe. He was wondering why they had brought the damn canoe anyway.

Chances were, they were not going to get out of this intact enough to canoe.

Grimly, Sasuke pulled his walkie-talkie out of his pocket and tried it. No signal—not from base, not from Kakashi. He stuffed it back in as Sakura continued to blabber on. He concentrated on kicking a rock along the path as he walked.

After a while, Sakura's voice petered out and there was blissful silence.

At what must have been around eight o' clock, they saw the big looming building they'd escaped from through the trees—the Sound company. They were competition for the Konoha agency, coming out with all sorts of new devices and technology, and they were supposed to take a peek at the company's secrets and maybe do a little hijacking, maybe kill off the CEO, just a little. In the end they'd managed to kill off eight fodder guards and gotten half their group captured. Sound was not to be underestimated. The CEO was said to be frighteningly powerful and alluring.

Sasuke wondered what it was that made them so powerful.

Sakura started talking again, but at least it was something useful this time. "We already have a bit of a floor plan. Chances are Naruto and Kakashi are being held in the detainment area, which we noticed on the fifteenth floor. We're both pretty good at finding the camera trails so that they can't find us, but it seemed like they were tracking us even without radar or camera, so we'll also have to be near silent. I guess they're called Sound for a reason, right? Anyway, we have to figure out a way to get in."

"One of the office windows is open," said Sasuke, tilting his head toward the window that he saw from even down here. "That means somebody is probably in there, but we can…take care of them."

"We don't have to kill them, do we?" Sakura asked quietly after a while.

After an even longer pause, Sasuke responded, "We'll avoid killing when we can. You know the pressure points."

Sasuke didn't see Sakura's smile, but her cheeks pulled back so that he could see from behind that she was content with that.

They dumped the canoe half a mile away from the building. "So now we've got to get up to that open window, in broad daylight, without being seen," Sakura summarized.

"That's about right."

They gazed at the building in silence.

"I can think of only one way to get in, and it's going to be reaaally risky, and not enjoyable."

Just then, they heard rustling in the woods, the crackling of leaves. Eyes widening, Sasuke dragged Sakura behind a tree, clamping a hand over her mouth. Two people marched into the clearing, and Sasuke peeked around just long enough to see the flowing white Sound uniform on both of them—a gray-haired guy and red-haired woman, both of them looking fairly young.

"See anything?"

"Take a look at this, dipshit," the woman said in a somewhat southern accent. "A freaking canoe. Their camp must have been somewhere around here—see, these footsteps are pretty recent. That goddamn Kabuto said they'd probably go for the sewers, or for that really fucking obvious open window up there. He seemed kind of impatient. Apparently he's more interested in these two than the ones we have captured."

The male knelt down, examining the canoe and footsteps. Sasuke released Sakura and started to silently move toward them. They both had their backs to him, facing the river. The girl chose that moment to turn around. Instantly, Sasuke gave her a chop to the neck and she fell, gagging. He caught her to prevent the inevitable thump when she hit the ground. The male was still kneeling. Raising his leg, Sasuke gave him a swift kick to a kidney and he toppled forward onto the ground. Gasping, the man went for his gun, but Sasuke planted his shoe on the man's face, breaking the nose instantly. The man would be disabled for the next two minutes with pain. The woman, regaining her breath, made a move toward him, cursing violently, but Sakura was there behind her, pulling her arm behind her back such that it would break if the woman moved. The other hand moved to a pressure point on the back of the head, and with a quick blow the woman was down. Probably just unconscious, but it was difficult to tell. Sasuke kicked the bundle of nerves he knew was beneath one ear of the man. The guy's head snapped back and unconsciousness was immediate.

After a moment Sakura asked, "Any idea who Kabuto is?"

"Nope. But we've just gotten our way in," Sasuke said brusquely, reaching for the man's unconscious body and wiping some of the blood away so it wouldn't get on the uniform. He read off his uniform's name tag, "This one's called Sakon…"

"How so?" Sakura asked curiously, kneeling down and taking the woman's gun. Her name read "Tayuya".

"We're going to put on their clothes…and infiltrate."

* * *

><p>Jirobo, on security camera duty, saw Tayuya and Sakon coming back from patrol. As usual, they scanned in their ID cards and entered through the front door. Jirobo sighed. They were on break now, the lucky bastards, but he had to sit in this chair for another hour. Suddenly, he squinted at the camera. Tayuya's hair looked a bit different, it seemed…fluffier. And pinker. Jirobo tapped the screen with a frown, and figured he was imagining things. He sighed dramatically again, reached for his coffee, and snarfed a donut.<p>

"Tayuya and Sakon are back," he mumbled through a mouthful to Kidoumaru, who was reading a Spiderman comic. Kidomaru glanced up.

"Weird. Usually their patrol takes longer, since they're supposed to go two miles downstream." He got up. "I'll see if they want to come chill with us for lunch and wait for the two Leaf morons to show." Kidomaru got up, stuffing a gun in his belt.

Jirobo shrugged in assent and turned back to the screen, taking another donut.

Weird. One of the cameras wasn't working, just white noise. Sound had top-of-the-line cameras…something was wrong. Another camera shut down as well.

Jirobu sat up, furrowing his fleshy forehead, and watched as two more cameras died. Grimacing, he hit a button to turn on all the tiny, hidden microphones throughout the hallways. Sure enough, a quiet thump and clatter accompanied every camera that went blank. Somebody was sabotaging the cameras.

Somebody was in the building, somebody who definitely shouldn't be.

Jirobu reached for his walkie talkie. "We have a problem."

ttttttttttttttttt

Sakura knocked down one more camera, creating a wide enough blank space that the guards wouldn't know which door to look for them in. They'd split up, and Sakura hoped this distraction would bring them to her and not to Sasuke, who was looking for Naruto and Kakashi. Luckily, the door next to them was open and Sakura had already darted in. Faintly, Sakura heard a male voice calling, "We have a problem." Sakura rushed in without thought, grabbing the walkie talkie and knocking out the obese man in the chair. Unfortunately then she realized there was another man in the room, pointing a gun at her.

From the walkie talkie came a slithery voice that sent chills down her spine even as distorted as it was through the radio. "What seems to be the problem?"

Sakura pulled her gun with lightning speed. The guard hesitated, and she knew she'd been right. She was in no danger.

"Drop the gun and tell them everything's okay," Sakura ordered to the guard. The guard didn't move. "You've been ordered to capture me. You won't kill me if you can help it. I, on the other hand, will kill you."

He bought her bluff. Bitterly, Kidomaru dropped his weapon, hands in the air. Sakura threw him the walkie talkie, not lowering her gun, steadying it now that she had two hands. "Now, tell them everything's fine."

Kidomaru reluctantly depressed the button and spoke into the walkie-talkie. "False alarm, sir. Everything's fine. Carry on. I repeat, there is absolutely no problem here in the security camera room."

"Ten-four," the silky, slithery voice said again, then there was silence.

"What have you done with my friends?" Sakura demanded of Kidomaru. "Where are they?"

Kidomaru crossed his arm over his chest and…smirked. Sakura knew in that moment that she'd missed something, some crucial fact. Footsteps padded down the hallway and guards flowed in the door, guns leveled at her. The last to enter was a white haired man with glasses. His uniform was not the flowing white of the others—or rather, it was, but it was splattered with blood. Sakura had the feeling that it wasn't his.

"Yakushi Kabuto at your service," he smiled with the creepiest bow that had ever been made. "I doubt someone with a fiery spirit like yours will divulge the location of Sasuke easily, but I'm sure I'll be able to convince you to speak."

Several things hit Sakura at once. First, this was Kabuto. Second, he knew about Sasuke and wanted to find him. Third, he intended to torture the information out of her. The next thing that hit Sakura was a dart filled with some sort of sedative, and the last thing that hit her was the floor as she toppled to the ground.

* * *

><p>Sasuke had made good progress. He'd managed to get the location of the detainment cells from one of the guards before he knocked him out, and it looked like nobody had noticed him as overly unusual with his large, flappy cap to hide his face. Sakura must have been making one hell of a distraction, because at one point a whole bunch of guards rushed past him.<p>

But then a voice came on the intercom.

"Uchiha Sasuke."

Sasuke did everything in his power not to seize up. He was just another guard, right? They weren't talking to him, of course not. He couldn't show any sign. He continued to walk his path. The voice on the intercom hissed his name like a snake, with an elongated s. It was terrifying.

"You think you are being brave, but we merely wish to speak with you. Come up to my office."

_Like hell, _Sasuke thought, maintaining a poker face. Every step, he felt like someone would notice the sweat trickling down his brow, like someone would see that he was not from Sound at all.

"Here's a little bit of enticement."

What came on the internet next made his blood curdle and he actually did seize up.

Sakura's agonized screams filled the hallways through the intercom.

There was no thought as Sasuke's composure disappeared into nothingness and he was sprinting up the nearest stairs, intending to reach the CEO office _rightfuckingnow _and destroy whoever was making Sakura produce those screams.

When he reached what he had been told by one of the guards was the CEO office's hallway, he heard Sakura's screams already. He pulled his gun from his belt immediately, kicking open the door when he reached it and charging in.

There was only one person in the office. It was a horribly pale man—or was it a woman?—with oily black hair down to the shoulders. He seemed to be wearing some sort of guyliner, and was holding a handheld device.

The man pressed a button on the device and Sakura's screams stopped, and Sasuke realized that he'd been duped. The screams had been coming from a damn recording device! Growling, Sasuke made to leave, but there was already a guard who had gotten behind him in his surprise, wrapped a hand around his neck and wrenched his gun out of his wrist. Sasuke elbowed him hard in the stomach, but the guard barely grunted and Sasuke's elbow probably hurt more than the guard did. The door closed and locked behind them.

The man at the desk steepled his fingers after putting down his device that somehow had Sakura's screams on it. "Sassssuke," he said, sounding even creepier than over the intercom. "Finally, you've arrived."

"You bastard, let me go!" Sasuke snarled.

"I assure you that your apparently preciousss girl will not be hurt, nor will the other two, if you cooperate. Should you fail to cooperate, I cannot ensure their ssssafety."

Sasuke tried to calm down and analyze the situation, looking for a way out. Meanwhile, he bit out, "What do you want? How do you know me?"

"You are not paying attention," the man said dismissively. "Perhaps this will have you interested. I know the whereabouts of Uchiha Itachi."

Sasuke seized up, and for a long moment he didn't breathe. Then rage was boiling in him of a whole different sort, curling in his veins. He twisted his body to get out of the man's grip and was behind the man in a second, hands wrapped around his neck. "What the hell do you know about that murderer?" he demanded.

The man pushed the barrel of a gun under his chin and the guard who had restrained him before was now pointing a gun at him.

Sasuke didn't care. He just squeezed harder.

Sakura's screams started coming from the device again.

Breathing hard, Sasuke reluctantly let go of the man's throat and stalked to stand in front of the desk. "Talk," he hissed with badly controlled rage in every pore of his body.

The man smoothed his collar. "My name is Orochimaru. I am, as you may have deduccccced, the head of Sssssound. I found out about you, the top cadet, the top agent, the top…_everything_…of Konoha through intelligence. I have need of people like that. It is sssaid you can kill ruthlessssly."

Sasuke didn't hear a question in there, so he merely folded his arms across his chest hostilely.

"Mossst people don't recognize the name Uchiha. It was a small article in the newsss, perhaps, thirteen yearsss ago: Psychotic Man Killsss Family, Leavesss Brother Alive. But it caught my eye. The kind of emotional caliber to commit that kind of a massacre…" Orochimaru licked his lips. "I was interesssted in it. So I tracked down Uchiha Itachi and bailed him out of prison."

So this was the man who freed Itachi from prison. Somehow, Sasuke had always known he didn't escape on his own from a maximum-security prison. He'd lived much of the following year in fear of Itachi coming back to finish the job until he realized Itachi had been serious in telling him that night that he wasn't even worth killing if he couldn't hit a bullseye. Since then, he'd been intent on seeking Itachi out himself to prove him wrong. He took the top martial arts classes and learned how to kill. Leaf recruited him, and Sasuke grudgingly did the missions because he thought they would bring him closer to Itachi.

"Itachi and I worked together for a time, but we…disssagreed. He escaped." Orochimaru's face twisted into a sick grin. "But, I tracked him, and to this day I know where he isss."

Sasuke barked, "So tell me where already."

Orochimaru held up one painted fingernail. "Ah, ah, do you really think I will divulge this information so easssily? I have conditions."

"Name them," Sasuke said blankly. Everything else paled in the face of his brother. He didn't like the evil glint in Orochimaru's eyes.

"In return for your brother'sss location, you will ssserve with Sssound now inssstead of Leaf, forever, as my right-hand man. You will give me sssome information in return. Oh, and…" the grin only grew, and crooked yellow teeth showed. "Your two male teammates have not seen anything, so they may go. But the pretty little girl, I'm afraid, has seen much of our building. Unless she too agrees to join, she will have to die."

Sasuke gaped like a fish, at a loss for words. He was supposed to say "okay". He had to go through with his revenge, and losing one person to avenge so many had to be acceptable. But for some reason he couldn't force out words. Orochimaru noticed his hesitation with satisfaction.

"I will give you sssome time to decide. Just know that Sakura will sssuffer the longer you take. Kimimaro will show you to your room."

The guard grabbed his arm firmly and started to lead him out.

"Oh, and one more thing, Sssasssuke."

Sasuke successfully hid his anguish as he looked back.

"I can give you enough power to defeat Itachi, because we both know in your current sssstate you are much too weak. I have my waysss. Think on it."

Then the door shut behind them and Sasuke was lead to his cell. Or room. It didn't make a difference to him anymore.

* * *

><p>Sakura had been strapped to a table and experimented on for the past hour. She'd done her best not to make noise, but eventually Kabuto had managed to make her emit screams he deemed satisfactory, right before she passed out.<p>

She was thrown in a cell with only a glass barrier between her and Naruto and Kakashi. She tried to talk to them and they came right to the glass barrier, looking outraged at the scars probably lacing her face and blood staining the white uniform, but when she tried to speak they couldn't hear her and all they could do was mouth at her. Sound-proofing. After a while they resorted to sign language, but their vocabulary was limited so she really couldn't explain what had happened. What was sign language for "we knocked people out, took their clothes, and got captured in a huge building while destroying cameras?"

Mostly, Sakura was worried for Sasuke. They'd been looking for him, and who knew where he was? She doubted he was dead, but what if they just aimed to torture him, mentally or physically, or both? Maybe she was really hungry, and her wounds itched a bit, but she would survive.

The next day, Kabuto entered her cell. Sakura scrambled to her feet—wincing at her ankle—and out of reflex, her hand went to where her gun would have been. Kabuto chuckled.

"Sakura, you have very nice hair," he said with a smile. Kabuto was always smiling. "I want to replicate that color. Do you mind if I take a bit of it?"

"Yes. Yes, I do mind," Sakura said spitefully, even as Kabuto pulled back her head and chopped off five inches of her hair with a knife. He dropped the hair into a bag, then returned his glance to her after giving the men in the other cell a brief once-over. Naruto was beating at the glass, Kakashi trying to stop him from breaking his knuckles.

"I suppose I may as well fill you in on the details. All of you." He snapped his fingers and the sound-proofing disappeared, and he could hear Naruto's enraged yells and screams. She lifted her hand to her hair and felt the bristly edges where she no longer had the hair she was so proud of and had refused to cut. She forced herself not to tremble and instead looked up with the most determined expression she could have. Kabuto smirked down at her. "So brave. Anyway, none of you are involved in this affair. All we want is Sasuke. We offered him something in exchange for his services to work for Sound, and he simply couldn't refuse. There was the condition that although the two males"—Kabuto jerked a thumb at them—"Can be released since they haven't seen the inside of Sound, but our dear Sakura here has." The smirk turned into an angelic grin. "So Sasuke agreed that Sakura would have to die!"

There was silence for a second as nobody bought it.

"Yeah, right. Like Sasuke would ever agree to that!" laughed Naruto. Sakura was of a similar mind, but when she looked at Kakashi he seemed slightly worried. Kabuto noticed this too.

"Look, Kakashi knows. Kakashi knows what would make Sasuke abandon comrades." The grin was sickening. "But there is an alternative. Rather than die, and have her vital organs donated to those in need in our agency, Sakura can join Sound! Everything would be just fine."

"Like hell," Sakura growled. "I'd rather die on the spot than join you and Sasuke if he'd sink so low as to sacrifice us!"

"Oh well, my friend's daughter needs blood of your type anyway. Maybe you're just not worth saving, Sakura," Kabuto thought aloud as he pulled out a gun and cleaned the barrel. "After all, according to Sasuke himself, you are the weakest member of Team Seven."

At that, Sakura shot up, kicked the gun out of Kabuto's hand, and snatched it from the air. It was an impressive maneuver. Sakura tried to use the element of surprise to roundhouse kick Kabuto's head, hopefully knocking him out, but Kabuto just caught her leg and used the momentum to swing her around and knock her against the wall. Sakura landed with a thud, the gun clattering a few feet away from her. Both she and Kabuto scrambled for it, but Kabuto got there first. Now she was on the ground and there was no way out as he knelt and jammed the gun under Sakura's chin. Before Naruto could scream or Sakura could move, he pulled the trigger.

There was a click.

In a second Sakura had kicked Kabuto in the crotch and then in the ribs, getting up and grabbing the gun. "Next time, take the safety off!" she advised, and prepared to shoot.

Her hand trembled and she bit her lip.

In the middle of a huge firefight, it was easy to kill—just shoot them in the chest and they go down like video game characters. But this…this person couldn't fight back now as he was writhing in pain, and he probably had a family and kids somewhere. Sakura pulled back the hammer, but her finger wouldn't twitch to pull the trigger.

"What are you waiting for?" Kakashi snapped. "Do it already, so we can get out of here!"

Sakura couldn't do it.

* * *

><p>Meanwhile, Sasuke turned over in his bed, unable to sleep even though the room was the peak of physical comfort. What should he choose? He thought the answer would be obvious—his brother. His goal in life was to pay him back, so why shouldn't he take whatever chance he could?<p>

It should be easy to let go of Sakura. She was going to die one day anyway, and this was the only way to guarantee that Kakashi and Naruto got out safely. Tactically, it was the only intelligent maneuver, with the least loss. If he refused the offer, they would probably try to kill both him and Sakura, along with both Kakashi and Naruto just because.

But…Sakura.

Sasuke's stomach twisted at the thought of a hole in her head, the blood staining her pink hair, her green eyes cloudy instead of green and vibrant. She would look like his mother did, all limp and unmoving.

Sasuke rolled out of bed and started pacing his luxurious room, with a perfect view of the river in the night time. Of course, there was the matter of there being bars over the window so as to stop him from throwing himself off. All the furniture in the room was top-notch and top-quality, and for some reason they were even providing room service. What was this, a freaking five-star hotel?

Maybe he should just not choose. Then they would never do anything and nobody would have to die.

Sasuke knew it was not that simple.

"Damnit!" he stopped pacing and slammed his hand on the wall. All he had to do was pick up the damn phone, dial the number, and say "I'm in." That's all. Those two words.

He wanted a gun to clean the barrel of, but they'd even taken that.

Sasuke ground his teeth and reached for the phone in the corner. It was a hotline straight to Orochimaru's room and couldn't call any other number.

"Yesss?" the silky voice hissed.

"I want to talk to my teammates," Sasuke demanded.

"I'm afraid that'sss not a—"

"Take me to my teammates, now, or there is no way I'm accepting your offer!" He slammed his fist on the phone's stand, and there was a cracking of wood. Silence came from the phone for a long time.

"Very well," Orochimaru said after a while. "I'll sssend Kimimaro to essscort you."

Ten minutes later, Kimimaro, who had long white hair and red circles under his eyes, obviously very ill, knocked on his door and silently took him down to what he presumed to be the dungeons.

What he saw made him very confused and very angry.

Naruto and Kakashi were reasonably unharmed in one room, but Sakura was bruised and beaten, and her hair was substantially shorter. And she had her foot planted on the chest of a white-haired man with glasses, pointing a gun at him, her hand shaking.

"What the hell's going on here?" he demanded.

Sakura looked up, startled—and then _switched the gun to him_. Sasuke backed up. "You!" Sakura yelled angrily. "Traitor!"

Something was wrong here. "Sakura, what are you _doing? _What happened to your hair?"

Sakura looked at him disbelievingly. "What, you wanted me to just sit here and take it? I'm not letting you get all of us killed, no matter what!"

"I didn't order this!" Sasuke yelled.

"Yeah? It kind of seems like you're cooperating them!" Sakura pointed out furiously. To enforce the point, the man below her scrambled away and smiled.

"Ah, hello, Sasuke! We took some preemptive action! You see, Sakura was causing trouble, and we had to detain her for her own—"

"Shut up!" screamed Sakura.

Sakura kicked the man down. "Calm down, Sakura!" Sasuke tried, but now Naruto was yelling at him, angry. "We've all been tricked here!"

"Damn right we've been tricked!" Naruto yelled. "We thought you cared about us, bastard, but then you turn tail and—"

"I didn't agree, I wasn't going to agree!" Sasuke lied through his teeth. "Come on, we've got to get out of here!"

Then behind him, Kimimaro said, "There's a call for you, Sasuke." He held up a cell phone.

Suspiciously, Sasuke took the call.

The voice that filled his ears chilled him to the bone and made his mind blank. "Foolish little brother."

Sasuke couldn't speak. Hearing that voice for the first time in thirteen years…he still knew it better than his own. "You," he hissed, unable to put even a fraction of the hatred he bore into that one word but damn well trying. He was unaware of Kakashi's eye widening, of Sakura's and Naruto's looks of confusion, of Kabuto's self-satisfied smirk.

"It would probably be best not to come after me," Uchiha Itachi snickered into the phone. "Seeing as you can't even hit a bullseye to save your own parents."

"Tell me where you are and I'll show you who can't aim," Sasuke retorted.

"And why would I be so charitable?" Itachi asked lightly.

"For the same reason you called me, I suppose."

"Heh. Maybe I just wanted to catch up with my little brother. How have you been?"

Sasuke's eyebrow twitched. "Oh, you know, angry. Because it turns out some psycho killed my family. Weird, huh?"

Itachi laughed deeply. "Alright, Sasuke. I've been bored lately, so I'll give you one hint as to where I am. I'm part of a gang called Akatsuki. That is all. I love you. Bye."

Sasuke was on the verge of crushing the phone as his brother hung up on him just like that, like he wasn't even worth his time.

"Orochimaru!" he yelled angrily as he strode out of the room, leaving everybody else a little dumbfounded.

Orochimaru's voice came on the intercom. Of course he had been watching the whole thing. "Yesss, Sasssuke-kun?"

"Tell me the location of the gang Akatsuki, and we have a deal."

* * *

><p>The following morning, he was in Orochimaru's office, signing papers. He didn't pay attention to what any of them said. He could have been selling his soul for all he cared.<p>

Orochimaru and Kabuto stood by, watching in silence, although it was obvious they were exchanging satisfied glances. Orochimaru was tapping his fingers, and it pissed off Sasuke to no end. Usually, Sasuke didn't mind small things like that, but now he ground his teeth whenever he heard the dumming of a fingernail scraping across the desk.

He took a moment to glare over, and Orochimaru was holding something in his palm. A piece of paper with something written on it. Sasuke read the nonsensical information automatically, not really processing it. When Orochimaru saw him looking, though, he squeezed his palm. Suddenly, that piece of paper seemed a lot more interesting. Sasuke tried to recall what had been on the paper, and hid his smile. It was something he wasn't supposed to know, and now he knew it.

Sasuke signed off on the last sheet of paper, and threw down the pen, showing Orochimaru a disgusted, hostile face. "There. You have your damn papers. Now where is Itachi?"

"Well then!" Kabuto said. "I guess I'll just go finish the first part of the deal, then!" he pulled out a gun pointedly and started walking down to the cells. Sasuke started to follow, but Orochimaru stopped him.

"Written on this sheet of paper is an addressss. It'sss Itachi's address. After you have worked here for one week, I will show you this sheet of paper."

"Alright," Sasuke said, monotone, slouching. He left, and shut Orochimaru's door behind him.

He waited for three seconds before sprinting after Kabuto.

* * *

><p>They'd left the soundproofing off, so the remainder of Team Seven had been debating strategy for the next day. They tried not to mention Sasuke, but finally Sakura couldn't take it anymore. "Kakashi, you seem like you know what the hell's going on. What's wrong with Sasuke? What could make him just turn against us like that?"<p>

Kakashi sighed heavily, like he didn't want to talk about it. "I should have known somebody would take advantage of this someday, I suppose. You both know Sasuke's family was murdered, yes? And he was subjected to quite some emotional trauma after that?"

"Yeah," Naruto said impatiently, "But all that did was make him want to get stronger so it wouldn't happen again. What's your point?"

"The person that murdered his family was his own brother, Uchiha Itachi."

Sakura gasped. "What? Oh my god…that's…"

"So he's even more emotionally messed up. But his brother is in jail, what's he going to do?" Naruto argued.

Kakashi closed his good eye. "His brother broke out of maximum-security prison. Sasuke figured he was coming back to finish the job, but he didn't. Sasuke must have felt like he wasn't even worthy of his brother's attention. So he trained, got stronger, learned how to kill, always for the power to find Itachi. He has strength now, I think we can all agree…but all that's missing is his brother's location."

"So that's what Orochimaru offered him," Sakura groaned. "The one thing he couldn't resist—the opportunity to fulfill his life's goal, to put his family's ghosts to peace. I guess my death is nothing compared to the deaths of all of his family."

"But how could a bastard like Orochimaru know the location of Itachi?" Naruto asked, confused.

"That doesn't matter. Hell, there's a chance Orochimaru is lying and just wants to use Sasuke…"

"Wait!" Sakura exclaimed. "So…the person Sasuke was talking to on the phone…that was his brother?"

"It would appear so," Kakashi affirmed grimly.

A smile started forming on Sakura's face. "But then…I guess you guys didn't hear, because you're in that cell, but on his way out Sasuke yelled something about Akatsuki. Couldn't that be a hint?"

"Akatsuki?" Kakashi asked, opening his eye. "Are you absolutely sure, Sakura?"

"Definitely."

"There's a gang called Akatsuki. They have troubled Leaf for a while, but they move everywhere in the world. Hell knows where they're stationed now. But I know somebody who could find out."

"So let's go to them!" Naruto yelled, jumping up.

"One problem," Kakashi said in a bored voice. "We're here. Not outside. We have to get out of here, but nobody knows when they're going to open that door and shoot Sakura in the head."

As if on cue, the door opened. Sakura scrambled up, looking frantically around for an escape.

But it wasn't Kabuto who peeked his head through—it was Sasuke.

He spoke slowly and assuredly, the tone making even Sakura stop in her tracks of running at him. "I can give you ten minutes of mayhem. Sakura knows the way out." He punched a button on the side and the glass wall between the two cells came down, so that Naruto and Kakashi could join them. "If you don't get out, they will kill all of you, so I would suggest you move. This is not charity; it is a distraction for me to look around. Go."

"Sasuke…" Sakura started, but Sasuke was already gone.

She glanced over at Naruto and Kakashi. Could this really be happening?

Well, Team Seven had gotten lucky before.

"Let's do this!" Naruto roared, and they were running, sprinting like the wind, dodging bullets as some kind of fight was ensuing between Sound Staff that were paying no attention to them at all.

* * *

><p>A few days later, Sasuke had grabbed a gun, fresh clothes, and set out from Sound.<p>

Kabuto chose to stop him when he was at the front door. "And where are you going, Sasuke?"

"To kill Itachi."

"I was under the impression that you were to stay for a week before we gave you the address."

"I'll be back. You'll have my whole damn life to use and humiliate me. As for now, I already have the address from that sheet of paper, so I'll be going, and you can't stop me. There is nothing with which you can threaten me anymore."

"Ah, but Sasuke-kun. Wasn't it you who started that fight that allowed Sakura to escape? Now, Leaf has vital information about our layout and it's your fault. You owe us to stay."

Sasuke sighed. He pulled the gun from his pouch, pointing it at Kabuto. "Be thankful that I've agreed to work for you. You cannot keep me on a leash like some dog. If I come back at all, it will be because I am generous. I'm not your toy or lackey. I won't crawl at Orochimaru's feet like you. Clearly, there's nothing more either of you can give me. So fuck off."

With that, he turned his back and walked off, and shot over his shoulder, "Oh, and I borrowed money for the plane tickets from your desk. Thanks. Bye."

Kabuto gaped after him.

* * *

><p>The next day, Sasuke was standing in front of the run-down building that was presumably the gang's hideout. There was a red cloud painted onto the door.<p>

It was raining. He hated the rain. It always flattened down his hair and it made visibility lower, which was never a good thing. Unless you were escaping. But Sasuke wasn't the one escaping this time. He was done running away.

His hands trembled, and he tensed his muscles in an attempt to stop them. One hand went to his gun holster, and the other reached for the old-fashioned knocker and lifted and released it three times. It was a few minutes before the door opened. It was a blue-skinned man who was the size of a tree, his skin as rough. "Pizza?" he asked sarcastically, bored.

Sasuke merely looked at him. "I want to see Itachi."

"Oh, that's right." The man yawned. "He said you would. He said to kill you on sight."

Sasuke went for his gun.

"Now, now, I was just kidding," the man said, revealing a mouth full of sharpened incisors. "Come on in, young man. We don't get visitors often. Right now, it's just me and Itachi—the others are out doing business. You're lucky, because the Pain would probably have already shot your brains out for showing up here. I'm Kisame."

Kisame stepped back to allow Sasuke in. Sasuke kept one eye on him at all times as he stepped into the dark, dank excuse for a house, water still crawling down his face. He was lead into what looked like a lounge, with a pool table. There seemed to be some kind of oily substance trailing along the floor.

Standing at the table with a cue was a short man with long, silky black hair and a cigarette between his lips. He didn't look up. "Who was it, Kisame?"

Sasuke froze at that voice.

Kisame's grin widened. "Someone who claims to know you."

Coal black eyes looked up from the table, and then back down again.

"Oh. It's you."

Sasuke blanched. He'd been expecting yells, challenging, taunting, but nothing like this—this calm indifference. It was like he wasn't even on his radar. Sasuke clenched his fists. "How do you know I won't shoot you _right now?_"

"If you did, I doubt you would hit, seeing as you can't even hit a bullseye," Itachi replied, eyes still on the balls. He lined up his cue with the cue ball, taking a puff of the cigarette. "Also, Kisame would shoot you in a matter of seconds, and you don't want to die, foolish little brother."

Sasuke leveled his gun at him. "I'm not afraid to die!" he snarled. "I've lived all my life for this—the day when I could avenge our parents and family! I sacrificed everything, even my own teammates, to gain power and kill you!"

"So?" asked Itachi as he moved the cue forward to hit the ball. It hit another ball, which hit another, and ended up getting three at once in the holes. "Your turn, Kisame."

Kisame walked around to pick up a cue leaning against the wall.

"Was there something you wanted, brother? If it's money you want, go rob a bank instead of us." Itachi went to slouch against a wall, still puffing away at the cigarette. Sasuke's eyes traveled down to notice an ornate gun holster, very fancy and gold-rimmed.

"It's not money I want! I want to kill you!" Sasuke growled, and pulled back on the hammer.

Itachi yawned. "Well, go ahead and try it. I'm dying of lung cancer anyway from these things. May as well speed it up a bit." He spat out his cigarette.

Sasuke was about to shoot, when he realized that the cigarette had ignited the oil on the ground and the fire was traveling toward him. Spitting a profanity, he jumped aside.

The carpet on which he'd been standing a second ago burst into flame.

"Aww, crap," Kisame said. "Leader's going to be angry about that. That's the fifth rug we've somehow destroyed."

"It's not a good idea to have a firefight in base. Deidara rigged the whole thing to blow up. I nearly stepped on a mine yesterday," Itachi said, cleaning his nails. Kisame shrugged and made another hit with his cue. Just one ball rolled in.

Sasuke walked right up to Itachi and seized him by the collar. "I don't need a gun to take care of you!" he hissed. He wrapped both his hands around his neck, and squeezed, looking straight into his eyes, hoping to see the moment when the light went out.

Then Itachi kicked him so hard in the stomach he flew back into the cabinet on the other side of the room. Painfully. He was winded for a long enough time that Itachi stalked over and, with a hard fist, punched him under the chin, bruising his jaw, and grabbed his right wrist in a lock. Sasuke gathered his wits and lunged forward with an elbow, hitting Itachi in the nose. Itachi didn't react, and, in a split second, _broke his wrist. _

_OW. _

Vaguely, past the screams in his head that he really hoped weren't out loud, he heard the front door opening and male voices entering. Vaguely, Kisame said from somewhere, "Ah, the others are back. Let's see if they picked up some pizza." But none of that was important over the blinding pain. Sasuke had never broken a bone, as strange as it sounded—in fact, he rarely got seriously injured. His gun lay on the floor next to him.

"Well, there goes your gun arm," Itachi drawled. "Why don't you run to a hospital?"

"I have more than one gun arm," Sasuke grit out, (and he tried to forget how the rawness in his throat meant those screams had been aloud) reaching for his gun with his left hand and firing shakily. It grazed Itachi's shoulder. Itachi just laughed.

"I knew it. Your aim is still terrible."

"Who is this, Itachi? An old friend?" a deeper voice asked. Sasuke turned his hazy gaze to the door, where an orange-haired man with many piercings was standing.

"It's my brother, Pain. Sorry about the carpet—he's a troublesome one."

There was the sound of a gun cocking. "Shall I take care of him?"

Itachi replied, "That's all right. I can do it myself."

Sasuke thought he heard shouts and screams coming from somewhere, but that paled in light of Itachi stepping forward and pressing a gun to his forehead.

"Goodbye, Sasuke," he said gravely.

There was a gunshot.

Itachi staggered back, clutching his hand, and though his finger pulled the trigger it went right above Sasuke's head. What the—?

Sasuke looked back to the doorway to see Pain's unconscious figure and the face of Naruto. "Hey, bastard, get down!" he yelled to Sasuke, then fired off a few rounds at Kisame, who collapsed to the ground. More of the oil trails ignited, and Sasuke took the opportunity to stagger to his feet and try to get to Naruto. "Sakura and Kakashi are taking care of the rest of Akatsuki! Come on, Sakura can take care of your wrist!"

Sasuke glanced back at Itachi. Naruto followed his gaze. "Oh, come on, I'll take care of him for you later, just"—

"—no," Sasuke said, pushing Naruto away. "He's my kill."

"Come on!" Naruto insisted.

"Go, Naruto. Get out alive while you can."

"We didn't come all this way to watch you die!"

"Well, I'm sorry, then," Itachi said, suddenly right behind Sasuke, his left hand drenched in blood, "I'm afraid you'll just have to turn away in that case." He held a gun to Sasuke's temple. "If you shoot me, he dies."

Then he coughed. Coughed again. Itachi had a coughing fit, out of nowhere, and Sasuke took the opportunity to elbow him back and plant a foot on his chest. He turned Itachi's gun on him.

"That's what you get for smoking," Sasuke smirked, and, after a moment, added, "And killing my mother and father. Any last words?"

"Look behind you," Itachi croaked out.

Sasuke did so, by reflex, and Itachi had the opportunity to shove him off. He scrambled behind the pool table, using it for cover, grabbing the late Kisame's gun.

"I'll just get Sakura then," Naruto mumbled, miffed at being ignored, and ran off in the direction of the yells and thumps coming from another area of the building.

"So this is what it comes down to," Itachi murmured audibly from behind the table. "Just you and me, brother. I wonder who's going to come out of this alive, even as your friends fight for their lives somewhere else."

"I think your gang is going to have a lot more trouble than they expected," Sasuke replied.

Itachi peeked out from one side and fired off a few rounds, which were completely off, but he ducked back before Sasuke could get him.

"Why did you really kill our family?" Sasuke asked.

"They were too…limiting. They didn't see my true potential."

"Oh, I see, so now you've reached your full potential—living in an old run-down apartment building with a bunch of other men who broke the law?" Sasuke sneered.

Itachi peeked out again and Sasuke fired again, but there was still no hit. Sasuke started moving forward.

"Akatsuki is a group of the strongest people alive. And our goal is honorable. Also, killing is fun." Sasuke could imagine the crooked grin on Itachi's face at that moment.

"And why did you leave me alive?" Sasuke demanded, continuing to silently walk toward the pool table.

"You were too weak to bother with."

"Yeah? You didn't have a problem murdering our newborn cousins."

"You make a good point," Itachi chuckled. "In reality, I don't know. Maybe I wasn't emotionally strong enough. You were a mistake, Sasuke. I don't like mistakes. You're a mistake that I have to fix."

Sasuke reached the pool table. "Fix this," he said, and kicked the table over to crash into Itachi. Itachi let out a visible grunt as one of his ribs obviously broke with the weight of the table. He was pinned beneath.

Sasuke pointed the gun at his brother's forehead. "I know why you didn't kill me now. It was because somewhere in your psychotic brain you still loved me, because I wasn't 'limiting' you. And I guess there might be shards of affection in me for you. You loved our parents too, but your hate surpassed your love. I was given the chance to give up comrades for power to kill you out of hatred. I chose the comrades. So what's the lesson here? Hate loses. Goodbye, Itachi." And then he pulled the trigger.

No sooner than that did Sakura rush into the room. Sasuke finally let himself slide to the ground, the pain in his wrist coming back full-force.

"Most of Akatsuki is gone," she said as she knelt next to him, slinging her backpack off. She started to tend to his wrist, gently. "Everything's okay now. You finally did it."

"He's dead," Sasuke said blankly.

"Yes, Sasuke, he's dead," Sakura reassured him as she wrapped a bandage around the area. "It's all over."

Sasuke said what was on his mind to take his mind off the pain. "Sakura, I condemned you to death and made only a half-assed attempt to help. Why did you come for me?"

"Kakashi explained everything…about your brother, the clan…not that that excuses anything. The real reason we came after you is because…we're your comrades. And unlike you, we _can't _detach ourselves from our friends." She smiled sadly. "As for me…I couldn't stand the thought of you dying, facing your brother, so…I had to come. Because…even if my death means nothing to you…your death would kill me as well."

"Isn't that a bit melodramatic?"

"I guess. But it's true. While I was in that cell, all I wanted was to…be with you again. To have you carry me, except without me having a sprained ankle. It was all a sad dream, I guess." She shook her head. "Sasuke, will you come back to Leaf with us, at least?"

"I promised my allegiance to Orochimaru. I don't know if"—

"While I was roaming around the building, I got some inside plans of Sound. We can wipe out the whole damn organization after what they did to me"—she held up a lock of cut hair—"and you. I'm sure I can get Tsunade to agree. Besides…she owes me a favor or two. But…if you don't want to come back, I understand…"

"Sakura…"

"I mean, I guess it says enough that you were willing to see me dead. And you were so efficient in getting missions done, but I don't know, maybe Sound is best for you, but I can't promise that we won't attack them because there's no way we could reach peace with the likes of Kabuto and Orochimaru"—

"Sakura."

"And it's not easy, I know, to have to deal with Naruto and Kakashi and mostly me, so I guess it makes sense that you'd rather team up with the guy that freed your brother from jail, I guess he's powerful and that's all you care about"—

"_Sakura._" His good hand gripped her arm firmly. "Shut up for a moment." He forced himself to make eye contact, noticing that her green eyes had little flecks of gold in them. He raised another hand to push her jagged bangs aside, out of her face. "I told myself I would be perfectly focused and balanced to deal with my brother, becoming nothing more than a killing machine. It was a stupid goal and it didn't work—emotions still crept their way into me. The night when Orochimaru made that proposal…it killed me. I made the worst decision of my life, and then I couldn't even go through with it. I gave you a way out. What I'm saying is—the thought of you with a bullet in your skull is not something I want to see, because despite my efforts, you have become…important to me."

He let out a huff, apparently intending to let that hang there. Sakura gave him credit—it was quite a speech by his standards. But…

"Like Kakashi and Naruto?" she clarified. "Or…"

"Damnit, Sakura, I don't know. I…" the hand that had been resting in her hair came back around to her cheek. "I don't know anything about this stuff. My family died before they could tell me any of this. Isn't there some—some scientific method—"

Sakura smiled at the half-cuteness of a confused Sasuke. "There's one test," she said lightly, and pressed her lips to his chastely.

When they parted in a second, Sakura asked, "Well? Do you have a conclusion to the hypothesis?"

Sasuke grinned slyly, and Sakura knew she had him, hook, line and sinker. "I might need to conduct further experiments in this…scientific research."

"Oh well," Sakura fake-sighed. "For science, I guess, it can't be helped." And then he was the one to move in.

As their lips locked, Sakura's head buzzed with unicorns and butterflies, because this _was_, somehow, her fairytale ending. In the life of death and gore that she lived, something had turned out perfect and beautiful. She had her twisted prince. Things weren't going to be perfect, but she had this one ray of sunshine to cut through the likes of Kabuto and the nightmares of her teammates' corpses. She had somebody who she could help whenever she lost a patient as a medic.

She had Sasuke.


End file.
